New Month, New Goals!

Thank you for all the wonderful comments on the Things I Learned in February post! Those are some of my favourite posts to write, but I kind of selfishly love reading all the things you learn in the span of a month. For example….

Morgan learned “I need to be more patient. Good things come to those who wait! (and work hard)”

ellie said “the biggest thing I learned is that only I have the power to change my life.”

Angela learned that “fortune cookies are hard to make at home and look much uglier.”

Angharad said “Despite what I *think* my body can do, it NEEDS a rest day at least one day a week, if not more.”

So many good lessons among us!! Even better, it’s a whole new month. One for new discovery, new mistakes and many more lessons learned ;)

For example, today I already learned that the spin bike in front of the fan is the most coveted spot in the room. I live in a university town and it’s March Break, so all the kids students are gone. Which means it’s pretty dead everywhere – including my gym! I credit my rest day yesterday and a constant stream of cool air to my kick butt spin class today. Felt goooood :)

I prepared a wonderful breakfast to devour once I got to the office.

Smoked salmon, laughing cow cheese, mustard, capers, tomatoes and spinach on an english muffin and a pear. But my hunger levels have been pretty low today (something I blame on the excessive amount of blondie eating I did yesterday which we won’t discuss). Anyways, I tossed the pear after a few bites.

Yum!!! LOVED it!!! The hummus + nutritional yeast is a stellar combo, I can’t believe I’ve never thought of it before! Next time I’ll try it on an actual pizza ;)

Unfortunately, I suffered from some digestive discomfort after this. My salad had 1/4 of an avocado that didn’t sit well in my tummy. Avocado usually does this, nothing like pineapple, but unpleasant nonetheless.

Carbonated drinks usually settle my tummy when it gets like this (ie I need to burp!). So I hit up the vending machine for some aspartamediet pepsi.

I actually don’t care for pop that much, the bubbles hurt my tongue! But it at least did the trick ;)

I love just combining meat, veggies and a legume in a bowl and calling it supper! I have three more bowls like this sealed up for the week. Yumyum :)

Dessert was a new chocolate bar:

Like how my nail polish matches the wrapper? This picture may have been set up to highlight that…

Luuurved the raisins in the chocolate. I may have gone back for another square ;)

So now that it’s March 1st, it’s time for me to set some new goals for the month! First, let’s look back to the goals I set for February:

1. Work out no more than 6 hours a week. I know this is kind of a backwards goal, but I am seriously addicted to endorphins. If I don’t watch myself, I can over-train and injure very easily. Here’s a weekly breakdown:

Met goal and for the first time in a long time, I didn’t have to take an extended break at some point this month because I wore myself out at the gym :)

2. Say yes more. YES!! My best friend asked me to go to Halifax – yes! I wanted to move to Toronto – yes! Hung out with some new people – yes! Took on some challenging work projects – yes!! Actually, I don’t think I had anything to say no to.

3. Make more leftovers. I finally succeeded at this one! I never had access to microwaves or refrigerators in past jobs, so making food with leftovers was always tricky. I could never repurpose them for lunch. But now that I can, every single week I whipped up something random like tonight’s meal and lived off it for the rest of the week. Makes meal time so much easier!

1. Work on getting my car sold and apartment subletted. Yes, this is number one. There’s a lot of things I need to do before I move to the tee-dot in June, but I can’t start building a life there, until I tie up the loose ends here.

3. Take more initiative at work so I can finish my contract knowing I made a mark. I’m exactly halfway through my four-month contract as a communications officer at my old university. I feel very comfortable there now and I do not want to coast through the rest of my time there. I want to bring more to the table and make the most of this wonderful career opportunity that has been given to me.

4. Learn as much as I can about personal training. I’m doing my in-class component of the course the last two weekends in March. I want to finish my textbook and online class work before then. And I want to fill my brain with as much info as I can before my exam in April, and eventual on-the-job experience.

5. Run outdoors again. It’s March! It’s almost spring! The streets are slushy and full of black snow, but it’s at least above zero! I think it’s time my new running shoes get broken-in outdoors ;)

What great goals! Sounds like your life is organized and on track. My goals for March are: 1) run outside 1 day per week, 2) yoga 3 days per week, 3) say YES to more (I’m completely copying you on this one, it’s very important to put myself out there and take more chances!)
Thanks for the great ideas!!

My Goals for March:
1) Submit job applications like a crazy person
2) Stick to my grocery budget (both money and item-wise)
3) Make a dent in the stockpile of frozen protein sources in the freezer
4) Eat up the veggies in the freezer, then buy more.
(#’s 3 & 4 are due to the fact that I have a food hoarding tendency, and now my chest freezer and pantry are super full, yet I keep wanting to buy more food. With #2, I’ve created a list of food items I am/am not allowed to purchase when I go to the store, though a lot of items have conditions on them. ie. if I’ve eaten all the porkchops/chicken breasts from the freezer, I can then purchase some more, but only after making sure there aren’t any left)

I don’t think I would make monthly goals if it wasn’t for you! Ok, it’s going to be my goal to do my laundry more often, not wait until the very last minute. I also want to get back into meal planning (I go through phases) and try to be more mindful of nighttime snacking (a bad habit I’ve only recently started…gah…)

PS I never said this but thank you SO much for you comment on my last post. You are the best.

YAY FOR BEING ABLE TO RUN IN THE WARM SUNSHINE!! gah i cannot WAIT!! isnt that low carb bread AMAZING!?!?
and i really should try the less than 6 hrs a week thing too! which i think i only do 5 hrs a week but just to check..maybe i should try doing LESS than 5 hrs a week, my body loves its rest! at school im always super active anyway!

Those are great goals! I hope you get a job in T.O. so we can do a bloggie lunch =D

Umm, love your nail polish and am sad I can not wear any in culinary school =(

My goals, similar to those in Feb!
1. blog more
2. clean up those eats- more!
3. start running outside/move more (i, too can’t wait until it is warm!)
4. get more sleep
5. GO somewhere, DO something other than school/apartment laziness! I need to socialize =D

Goals for March: Eat more veggies, maintain exercise schedule I started last month, try to save money so I can go on vacation when the weather is warmer, do more blogworthy stuff so I can update my blog, and if it’s warm get outside! I’m so sick of cold and snow.

I just love your monthly goals. I started doing this back in November and it is just so much better when you have goals written down, isn’t it? You get so much more accomplished. I wrote out my March goals yesterday, and plan on posting them tonight. My big one I want to share with you is, get in the pool!

SUSAN! I’ve never met anyone else with pineapple issues – but the affects are the exact same for me. Shrivel up into the fetal position is the only thing I can do. Sadly I LOVE pineapple – but it just kills me. Sorry, I got all excited – misery loves company!

My goals for March are:
Keep hitting the gym hardcore
Finish the St. Patty’s 8k and have FUN!
Healthy eatting within my WW Points range!

Loved reading everyone’s lessons and love your goals! I am so excited to be outdoors more now that the weather is better… My goal is to take my camera with me more and turn my long walks into more than just exercise. And to eat more variety.

Woo for goals getting accomplished! And bigger woo for such great goals coming up. I have no doubt you will make progress with them. And how exciting too – that they apply to a new part of your life with the move. :)

PS – That spot in the class is my favorite too. Always helps to not be dying of heat!

Oh lovely girl, I adore all your goal posts: I respond so well to goals/to-do lists!

I’ll be gone for half of March (weeeeeeeeeeeee!!) but I still have some things in mind!

1. Get back on track with grocery budgeting. This means stop buying everything at my local coop when trudging to Trader Joes once a month makes the world of difference to my wallet.
2. Enjoy every second of my time home in England and don’t fret about the little things I can’t control.
3. Commit to three yoga sessions a week. Not two, THREE. It means I get a $20 per month discount at my Y and it’s my “ideal” number of times per week to get my meditate-on!

Amazing post!
And delicious eats, as usual ;)
My goals for March?
Right now, I want to
1) Study hard and get good grades in every subject
2) Eat more times during the day
3) Go back to the gym – I´m already signed! Now, all I need to do is workout!
4) Learn some new healthy recipes
Oh, well. I need to put a lot of effort into those ones!
Wish me luck ;)
Have a great week, Susan!
Brazilian XOXO´s,
Gabriela

ahhh hummus + nutritional yeast? perfect because i happen to have BOTH on hand. i am EXCITED!

goals are such a funny thing. i like making them but then get totally lazy about completing them. i don’t know if i am scared of success – i mean is that even possible? maybe i don’t think i deserve it? this comment just got really deep and fast, but i think this is something a lot of people struggle with. sometimes i don’t think people think they deserve success – which is why, like me, we make goals only to not finish them. i mean, the blog helps keep me accountable, btu i don’t know. this is totally word vomit just coming out of my mouth. maybe we shall chat abotu this later. anyways…have a fabulous day!

Oh Holly, i get you. I am seriously the worst procrastinator EVER. I think that’s one of the reasons I was attracted to journalism. I need a solid, written in stone deadline, or it will never get done. That’s also why my apartment is a mess. I tend to think of a million things I rather get done before my dishes ;)

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Welcome!

My name is Susan, I'm a 20-something living in Atlantic Canada and this is my blog about... me. I used to blog about food and fitness, but that all changed in June 2011 when I was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma. After six months of chemotherapy, I was declared cancer-free in January 2012. I now write about anything and everything as I stumble through my post-cancer world. I'm a trained journalist currently working as a writer/researcher. I also have a background in personal fitness training and nutrition. Welcome to my piece of the internet!
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